What’s the SEIU hiding?

Dues-paying members have a right to know how their union is spending their money, and who’s getting a cut.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute filed a complaint on May 5 with the U.S. Department of Labor after learning the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois-Indiana, or SEIU Healthcare, failed to comply with federal financial-disclosure requirements.

What was hidden?

The names of 25 employees who received more than $340,000 from SEIU Healthcare while employed by the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago, the group organizing the “Fight for 15” protests across the Windy City.

Because SEIU Healthcare is subject to the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act, it must file something called an LM-2 form on an annual basis. This form is meant to allow members to hold their union accountable by detailing salaries for union officials and all payments over $5,000. But SEIU Healthcare didn’t do that in their most recent LM-2.

There is an exception to the disclosure rule if the union didn’t know who was employed for the services in question, but the address it gives for the nameless employees is the same as SEIU Healthcare’s main office in Chicago. To comply with the transparency law, all the union would have to do is walk down the hall and ask for their names.

Keep in mind this is the same organization that is skimming millions of dollars from payments to day care providers and personal care assistants across the state.

Dues-paying members have a right to know how their union is spending their money, and who’s getting a cut.